The Biden administration is considering a complete and total block on new federal offshore fossil fuel drilling leases in the face of a worsening U.S. energy crisis.
According to a report by Fox Business, the Department of the Interior’s five year offshore leasing plan ended on Thursday and could lead to the agency issuing a final decision that may prevent any further leasing in the Atlantic or Pacific oceans through the year 2028.
INSANE: Biden admin weighs complete block on offshore oil drilling as gas prices keep risinghttps://t.co/cWbXXfoVTa
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 6, 2022
“On Thursday, the 90-day comment period for the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) proposed five-year offshore leasing plan ended, paving the way for the agency to issue a final decision. In July, the DOI unveiled the plan which gutted a Trump administration proposal, ruling out any leasing in the Atlantic or Pacific and opening the door to an unprecedented scenario where no lease sales would be held through 2028,” the report states.
“Under the DOI’s proposal, the federal government could choose to hold anywhere between 0-11 offshore lease sales, compared to the Trump administration’s version which called for 47 such sales. Federal law mandates the interior secretary to issue offshore leasing plans every five years laying out prospective oil and gas lease sales.”
The Biden administration reportedly considered complaints from “green energy” groups, with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland assuring them on July 1 that Joe Biden plans to stay true to his “commitment to transition to a clean energy economy” even as gas prices surged over the summer.
Gas prices began to rise again this week in the wake of OPEC’s decision to reduce oil production by 2 million barrels per day, putting the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place as the country struggles to grapple with its reliance on foreign energy instead of its own.
Rather than ease their “green” regulatory policies that would take the burden off domestic energy production, the administration has resorted to draining the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to levels unseen in four decades, with plans to deplete 10 million more barrels ahead of the midterm elections in November.
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The administration is also weighing a ban on exports of U.S. gas, diesel, and other refined petroleum products, and is planning to lift sanctions on the socialist Venezuela government in order to allow Chevron to resume pumping oil.
This news and commentary by Andrew White originally appeared on Valiant News.
